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07/01/2010

 

(P-O-P-S) According to the Summer 2010 edition of “Content,” marketers are more invested in content management in 2009 then they were a decade ago, utilizing 32% of marketing and communication budgets last year as opposed to only 10% a decade ago. The CMO council also found that “marketers are interested in focused communication, with 62% of respondents saying customer segmentation and targeting is now their top priority.” The reasoning makes great sense.
Since the Internet reaches consumers directly, real journalists trolling for facts and information, citizen journalists trying to scoop the news and reviewing products, businesses as well as consumers, you have to determine which audience you are targeting with your articles strategy to determine the articles format most appropriate for each influencer. Then you need to consider their age, gender, professional role, and motivation for seeking out information if you want to pinpoint even further and provide each of them with valuable content. 
For example, if you are targeting ezine directories, a simple text article with a specific title optimized for quick identification might be your best choice of format. If you are looking to declare your expertise in a certain area, blogging might be more to the point. If your market is skewing 20+ or 55-65, Twittering or microblogging can get you the most attention. Or if you are looking to be in various places all over the Internet, a social media press release with tagged images, video, lots of well-researched stats, and quotes that can easily be downloaded into an RSS feed or blog post might be the key.
It is not that simple, but catering to the customer is probably the number one factor that determines your business success, so the effort is crucial in this competitive marketing environment. Involve your customer in conversation and respond to his feedback, or lose him to someone who will listen.
As a result of this emphasis on custom content, companies and not the media are becoming the most trusted source for consumers.  Increasingly, companies have many new channels for delivering branded content, and brands need to think strategically about custom content and use it as the jumping off point for all their marketing communications for a consistent high quality approach and best bang for their marketing buck.
Bottom line is that wise companies are including PR at their strategy table from the beginning. If they are not large enough to have a PR firm, they can hire a PR strategist/consultant like Points of Persuasion Syndicate for an affordable price and get the years of large corporate experience under their belt for pennies on the dollar. Or they can choose to have an in-house PR capability. Developing a communications strategy team to create a comprehensive content driven approach to the whole spectrum of marketing communications and media branding is best policy.  Making sure you are meeting your customers needs, and moving beyond broad messaging to target relatively small customer groups is possible, measurable and the newest key to success.

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